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Topic: Finishing hops question (Read 2287 times)

So I received a very straightforward recipe kit with my first beer brewing kit from NB (American wheat ale extract). Waiting for my burner I've ordered and received a second recipe kit, one that is more up my alley as far as styles go (Furious IPA extract from Midwest). It seem pretty simply with the addition of steeping grains and doing a finishing hops. My question is around the finishing hops. I wasn't planning on using a secondary (lazy, change of containmation, etc.) so will my beer suffer because of this if I only do primary? And what would you recommend as best practices to follow the below instructions only using primary? Thanks!

"After 5-7 days of fermentation, add 1 oz. Ahtanum, 1 oz Amarillo and 1 oz. Simcoe Leaf hops. You can add the hops directly to the sanitized secondary fermenter and rack on top of the hops – you’ll get more from the hops this way. If you are using a single stage fermenting system, then leave the beer in the fermenter for two weeks total and carefully add the hops to the primary fermenter. Allow this to age for 7-10 days. Optionally, you can use a spare fine nylon bag to hold the dry hops, but this is not required."

It looks like your kit has leaf hops. I'd recommend using a mesh bag for them to help prevent your siphon from plugging up. I've had this happen and can be a pain. Just sanitize the bag before adding the hops. I'd also just do this in the primary as others have advised.

Back when I started brewing, using a secondary was recommended as the SOP. Today, unless you are doing: 1/ A very high gravity beer ( Barleywine, Quad, RIS,etc.) that needs to age for a few months, and leaving it on the yeast cake could eventually have negative effects, namely yeast autolysis. OR 2/ A beer like a fruit beer where you rack into a secondary to add fruit,

Don't bother with a secondary. There is little to gain, and you run the risk of contamination and certainly oxidation of the beer. So, leave it in the primary until fermentaion has stopped (verify this by checking for consistent htdrometer readings over 2-3 days), and package. When I make a high gravity beer that needs to age, I keg it after fermentation and leave it in the back of my kegerator to age.

After reading Stan's article on the interaction between hops and yeast in the latest issue of Zymurgy, I think I may go back to using a secondary when I'm going to dry hop a beer. It appears that with yeast still in the beer that the character of the hops can change to something significantly more estery, especially in gerianol. Looks like something to experiment with.

I read that article last night Denny. Very interesting. I've dryhopped in primary for years, but I think I might take the same hop combo in my current IPA (Amarillo/Centennial/Mosaic) and try it in a seconday next time to compare, in this case. Since IPAs are all about hop flavor and aroma for me, I'm pretty curious to see. Just shows how tough it is to quantify hop flavor and aromas.

I have a 7 gallon conical from which I can dump the yeast. When I do an 11 gallon batch with it and my bucket, I notice a difference between the beers. I do go back and forth as to which I like best though, but to me it is a discernible difference. I do remember thinking there was a difference the first time I didn't rack to secondary-but I was all too happy to get rid of all my carboys. I always dump/harvest in conical, and now wait till about day 10-11 to start dry hopping and a pretty nice "blanket" of hops covers the yeast cake in buckets after a few days. Unless you cold crash- won't you always have yeast in contact with hops, even after racking to a secondary?

Unless you cold crash- won't you always have yeast in contact with hops, even after racking to a secondary?

Yeah, but I think there will be less yeast in a secondary. At least, that's what I hope to find out. The article mentioned a big difference between dry hopping before and after filtering, for instance.

That's how I took the article, too. Since it mentioned dryhopping filtered wort vs unfiltered wort, and I don't (and wouldn't ) filter, the best option for me was to to compare my current method - dry hopping after krausen falls - to dry hopping in secondary when the yeast is no longer in suspension, and the beer is hopefully clear. No harm in trying.

Interesting indeed, I never thought of waiting for dryhoppping after filtering/crashing. Not gonna filter but 24 hours at 40 then, secondary should be pretty clear of yeast. I have keg hopped lots but after dryhopping in fermentor first. Would be even easier to just keg as secondary, hop then and wait normal dry hopping period before trying. Need a few more bazooka screens. Guess I know what I'll be drinking in a month...